Brian Cherry

Brian N. Cherry is a private equity investor and board member who was previously a Managing Partner at Oak Hill Capital. Oak Hill announced in March 2014 that Cherry joined the firm as a Partner, focused primarily on investment activity in the Industrials sector. At the time, Oak Hill said he brought 18 years of investment experience.

Before Oak Hill, Cherry was a Senior Managing Director at J.H. Whitney & Co., where Oak Hill said he had sourced and led multiple transactions. Before joining J.H. Whitney in 2000, he began his career at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette in the merchant banking group.

Cherry earned an A.B. from Princeton University and an M.B.A. from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Zymeworks’ January 2026 board announcement says he has spent more than 25 years investing in and helping build businesses across healthcare, industrials, business services, financial services, and consumer products, and has led buyout and growth equity investments totaling more than $25 billion in enterprise value.

Bloomberg reported on February 6, 2025 that Cherry had left Oak Hill Capital. Since then, public company filings and announcements show him serving as a director, including appointments to the boards of Zymeworks in January 2026 and Atara Biotherapeutics in June 2026.

• Cherry’s Oak Hill work centered on control-oriented private equity rather than seed or angel investing; verified transactions include buyouts, recapitalizations, platform formations, and growth-equity-style investments.
• Oak Hill describes its strategy as “theme-based,” using industry focus, long-term trend analysis, segment fundamentals, and the firm’s own experience to develop differentiated investment views.
• Oak Hill says it seeks to identify companies aligned with existing themes and begin dialogue with management teams well before an investment.
• Cherry has emphasized backing businesses with market leadership, clear secular tailwinds, and room for both organic growth and strategic acquisitions.
• In the 2024 Safe Fleet exit release, Cherry said Oak Hill uses a repeatable process to identify “high-quality companies benefitting from secular macro tailwinds” and implement a tailored value creation plan.
• His sector experience is concentrated in industrials and healthcare, with additional public bio noting business services, financial services, and consumer products.